Lorraine Williamson
For two days, police searched the countryside of Toledo for an animal that one witness was convinced was a lion. Now the hunt is over, with no trace of a big cat found. The unusual operation began after a delivery driver contacted the 112 emergency service on Wednesday morning, reporting that he had seen what appeared to be a lion in the Sierra de San Vicente.
The sighting was reported at around 10.43 am on the TO-1375 road, close to kilometre nine and the Convento del Piélago, between El Real de San Vicente and Navamorcuende.
The report was taken seriously. Consequently, the Guardia Civil launched an operation involving its environmental protection unit Seprona, patrol officers, drones, and a helicopter, while municipalities in the surrounding area warned residents to take precautions.
One possibility was the nearby Zoo Safari Fauna Aventura at Hinojosa de San Vicente. The facility confirmed that authorities had checked its animals and said none was missing. Checks were also made with nearby properties and zoos in the Madrid region, without any reports of a missing lion.
Twenty officers, drones and a helicopter
The search continued into Thursday, with 20 Guardia Civil personnel involved, including citizen security patrols, Seprona officers and a Pegaso team specialising in the use of drones.
A helicopter was also deployed as officers searched around Hinojosa de San Vicente and El Real de San Vicente.
But there was a problem. Despite the scale of the operation, nobody else reported seeing the supposed lion. Nor did officers find tracks or other evidence indicating that a large feline was roaming the Sierra de San Vicente.
By around 3.00 pm on Thursday, the Guardia Civil decided to suspend the operation.
Authorities had remained in contact with local councils, environmental officers, livestock farmers and residents during the search, but none of those enquiries produced evidence supporting the original sighting.
So what did the driver see?
That remains unanswered.
One possibility investigated by officers was that the mysterious animal was not a lion at all, but a particularly large dog.
Checks were carried out on Tibetan mastiffs and Great Dane-type dogs in the area, including identification-chip enquiries and contact with owners. A Tibetan mastiff can have an exceptionally thick coat around its head and neck, giving some animals a distinctly mane-like appearance.
There is no confirmation, however, that the driver saw one of those dogs. The Guardia Civil has established only that its search produced no evidence of a lion or other large feline.
Similar alarms have happened before in Spain. In 2013, authorities launched an extensive search around Berja in Almería following reports of a large black feline. Cameras and traps were deployed, but no exotic animal was ultimately found and large dogs were recorded in the area instead.
For residents of the Sierra de San Vicente, the immediate mystery appears to be over. There is no longer an active Guardia Civil search and, after two days of helicopters, drones and patrols, Toledo’s elusive “lion” remains just that: elusive.